Little Skaia Things
by Ashynarr
Summary: So I promised myself a while back I would write some things for Homestuck, see as it's my other favorite fandom. This is a storage place for all my drabbles for the series and characters. Will feature ships and platonic stuff.
1. Little Talks

Little Skaia Things (Homestuck)

Author: Ashynarr

Summary: So I promised myself a while back I would write some things for Homestuck, see as it's my other favorite fandom. This is a storage place for all my drabbles for the series and characters.

Disclaimer: Homestuck's not mine.

Warning: generic friendship fluffiness

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"Do you ever think it's weird how the game gave us back our planets?"

Rose looked up from her book to Jade, who was busy crafting a functional model of the solar system in the middle of the living room. Out of the appropriate balance of elements, even, according to her insight. "What do you mean?"

"I mean the trolls, obviously! Their solar system was a lot different than ours, so I figured they might get it again with one of the nearby stars, right?" The witch pointed out, using a nail to get the simulated wind of her mock-Jupiter to swirl correctly.

Rose hummed in understanding. "But instead of their own solar system, they took the place of our Mars, is that it?"

"Yeah!" Another tap of her finger created the Red Spot, completing the last detail to Jade's satisfaction. "Which isn't bad, mostly, because we can see each other more often without having to travel too far. But seeing humans and trolls that weren't any of us for the first time in their histories was just…"

"Fascinating."

"You did watch it!" Jade crowed suddenly, white ears fully alert as she twirled on her friend, pointing. "I knew you'd cave eventually!"

"Using Kanaya as a middlewoman to make me watch Star Trek was low," Rose protested, flushing in remembrance of how she'd been convinced by her wife to do so.

"John was so upset he didn't think of it first," The witch of space laughed. "He had this whole prank planned where he'd kidnap you and trap you in a room with a giant cake and five TVs all playing it, and the only way to get out would be to eat the whole cake."

Rose slapped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing at the absurd image, though it didn't help much. "Sound absolutely _devious_."

"He'd even recruited Jane and Roxy into helping before I told him," Jade grinned. "You might want to be careful, though; he has a lot of movies he wants to watch again since they're different now."

"Yes, I did get the feeling Sporak in our old universe didn't have horns," The seer of light agreed.

"They managed to keep the ears and blood color, though," Jade pointed out.

"That reminds me, what was he like in the original version?" Rose asked.

"Well, his name was Spock, obviously, and he was a Vulcan from the desert planet Vulcan."

"Creative."

"Hey, we call our planet Earth, that's not creative either," Jade stuck her tongue out before continuing. "And all Vulcans had green sulfur based blood, which I know isn't what the trolls have but I guess we can't have gotten everything the same. Oh, and they were all about logic and controlling emotions because if they didn't they could be a lot more violent because they naturally feel emotions a lot more strongly."

Rose's eyebrow raised as she leaned forward in renewed interest. "Violent?"

The witch shrugged. "Yeah, they were sorta a lot like the Alternian trolls before the equivalent of Vulcan Jesus came along and convinced everyone to convert to Vulcan buddhism."

The seer snorted before she could stop herself at the summary. "You mean their own Signless?"

"...huh, yeah, I guess so." Jade tilted her head back in thought. "Wow, maybe Vulcans are a lot more like trolls than I thought. And I just remembered some Vulcans were really good with touch telepathy."

"Which the trolls also have, though they don't need to touch to do so."

"I guess." She perked up. "The Vulcans were vegetarians! Which I know the trolls aren't."

Rose nodded. "Trolls are also nocturnal for the most part, which I feel wasn't the case before."

"Nope, none of the aliens I remember were that way." Jade hummed in thought, frowning suddenly. "There might have been some, though - I can't remember! Gah, now it's gonna bug me all day!"

The seer hid a smile behind her hands, watching her friend rock on her feet in frustration. Sure, Star Trek had been alright, and the reward for getting through a season had been more than worth it, but the newfound knowledge of how to frustrate her more engaged friends was a bonus she was hoping to milk for decades to come.

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AN: Some silly Rose and Jade interactions, once again in a post-Game universe. I have no clue if this is canonical for the two, but I started out talking about space and ended talking about Star Trek, so I haven't completely failed yet. Thoughts? Suggestions?


	2. Letter To You

Little Skaia Things (Homestuck)

Author: Ashynarr

Summary: So I promised myself a while back I would write some things for Homestuck, see as it's my other favorite fandom. This is a storage place for all my drabbles for the series and characters.

Disclaimer: Homestuck's not mine.

Warning: Onesided VrisKana

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"Oh Kanayaaaaaaaa!" Vriska called out as she strode into her server player's hive. "Are you here?"

When no answering snarky reply came back down the halls, the cobalt-blood frowned. To be frank, since Kanaya had all but started ignoring her except to tell her to leave Tavros alone occasionally, she'd gotten bored of having no one to bother while her minion was off doing… whatever his quests were. Probably useless grub stuff again.

Whatever, it hardly mattered to her; she unfortunately had to wait for the next stupid quest on her land to unlock before she could continue on, and she'd been right by the gate to her former moirail's land, so she figured she'd take a look to see how that super special frog quest of hers was going.

But hey, if the jade-blood wasn't around, that meant Vriska could snoop for herself and see if there was anything interesting in her hive!

The cobalt troll grinned viciously.

Each door she threw open only revealed boring things; a dining room, a kitchen, a huge room that she guessed might have once held Kanaya's lusus, and a storage room. The last one didn't even have any cool treasures, just boring food and cloth and supplies.

Huffing, she turned and ascended the stairs, hoping something up here would be far more interesting. Luckily for Vriska, the top turned out to be the jade troll's bedroom, complete with

husktop and recuperacoon. It seemed Kanaya had gone all out on the decorating in here - with all the colorful streamers and pillows and numerous other decorations, it'd take forever to find anything unless one had insanely good luck.

Which, of course, Vriska had.

Spinning on her heel towards a random corner of the room, she walked past a pile of pillows to stop before a neat pile of fabric lying in a corner, ordered from bottom to top by color. Wow, was Kanaya ever a neat freak, even while playing Sgrub.

"Let's see what you have hidden in here…" Vriska rubbed her hands together, going for the cloth that matched her own blood color first. After a minute of digging around for nothing, she was about to leave it as a bad job before a sheet of paper slipped out from the fabric, settling right to her feet.

Victory! Clearly with her luck this was something incredibly embarrassing the bossy troll never wanted to be found. There was no other reason for it to have been stuffed back here where no one else would find it.

Opening it up with a flourish, she scanned the page while starting to read out loud, "Vriska-"

She paused, the first inkling of true curiosity nudging at her with that start.

"Vriska," She started again, grin slipping away as she continued. "At the time I write this letter, we have been moirails for one full sweep. Since we have entered the game, this relationship has been tested, but so far seems to be staying strong. At least, that is what I had believed at first.

"After a close examination of our relationship and recent interactions, I am afraid I have come to a concerning, if in hindsight blinding obvious conclusion. I have been failing you in my duties as a moirail, and for that, I apologize."

Vriska paused, frowning now. Was this some sort of bizarre apology?

"I have failed you, and more importantly, I have failed myself. When I saw you kiss Tavros, I felt a blinding rage even I was startled by, and distanced myself from you until I could collect myself again. During this time, I was forced to realize why I had been failing my duties to you -

I no longer felt pale for you."

Vriska paused again, suddenly struck by the urge to throw this letter away and run, retreating to her planet again and pretending she never knew that Kanaya had dumped her without even saying it to her face. The other part of her, driven onward by morbid curiosity, turned her vision eightfold back to the letter.

"I don't believe my feelings for you have been pale for quite some time, and the fact that it took me this long to realize it probably says quite a bit about myself. And though you will probably never hear me say this to you, I have been told by Karkat that a good way to deal with muddled feelings is to write it down - "Get it out of my thinkpan", so to speak. So, despite my reluctance, that is what I have done and will do in order to help me focus more on my duties in breeding Bilius Slick.

"I am not pale for you, Vriska, because I am deeply, crimson-red flushed for you."

Vriska almost crumpled the letter right there, but her gaze etched over that one line again and again, committing it to her mind as clearly as the stories in her ancestor's journal. Kanaya was… flushed? For her?

(That hadn't happened to Mindfang, though-)

She forced herself to finish, words fumbling over her tongue. "And I know that you, who has planned your life around following in your ancestor's footsteps, would never consider anyone but Tavros for that spot in your quadrants. That is why, despite what my heart might tell me, I can never tell you how I feel, or even hand you this letter.

"I know you are probably still angry with me for abandoning you when you need me most, and you have every right to be. I only wish I could explain myself fully, but I admit, at least in this letter, to being afraid of your rejection more than almost anything. I am truly sorry, Vriska, for not being a better moirail, or at least a better friend. I hope that, after we beat the game and claim the prize, we might one day be friends again.

"...Kanaya."

Vriska stood there for what felt an eternity, for once not sure of her own luck if it meant finding things like… like _this_.

The part of her who had grown up on tales of a dashing heroine that ruled the seas like none other wanted to reject this abrupt derailing from the well mapped path her ancestor had left her. The part of her who had laughed and joked around with Kanaya wanted to march over to her damned frog lab and demand answers and ease her whirling confusion and worries.

For once, her luck abandoned her, leaving her unsure of what to do. Did she go back to her planet and pretend this never happened, or did she go against her destiny and strike her own path into the unknown?

Did she do what Mindfang would do, or what Vriska would do?

(...was there even a difference now?)

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

AN: Based on a prompt somewhere that wanted Vriska finding an unsent love letter from Kanaya and reacting to it. Hopefully I did them both justice, as this was pretty sad to write even if I'm not a huge shipper in this fandom.

I guess this could sorta be a thing that maybe happened in canon but we never saw? IDK it's just a think I'm glad to have gotten done.


	3. Rescued

Little Skaia Things (Homestuck)

Author: Ashynarr

Summary: So I promised myself a while back I would write some things for Homestuck, see as it's my other favorite fandom. This is a storage place for all my drabbles for the series and characters.

Disclaimer: Homestuck's not mine.

Warning: Canon compliant, Vriska POV

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

"Noo! Terezi, don't do it!"

Vriska blinks, completely pulled out of the dramatic moment at the voice, turning to see who had interrupted their game, and gaping when she recognized him. "John?"

There was no way this was the same scrawny dork she'd only recently confessed her deepest worries to; for one thing, he was way older, and the second, he wasn't supposed to be in this session at all! Not to mention she was getting the very odd feeling that things had been irrevocably changed just now.

Terezi and Gamzee, at least, looked equally confused.

"What are you doing heAUGH!" She tries to ask, only to get a fist right to her cheek, sending her tumbling ass over wings across the floor until she finally flops to a woozy stop several feet away.

Again she has the feeling she was supposed to be doing something very different right now, though what that is escapes her as she slowly pushes herself up on an arm. John and Terezi sound like they're arguing about something, though all she can make out is the stabs of pain being sent through her skull each time one of them raises their voice.

"Guys?" She manages to ask once her brain and mouth are coordinated enough to do so again, even though her head still feels like it's pounding. At the least, it mercifully stops the arguing, which seems to have gained an extra voice in the meantime.

After a moment of silence she feels a warm hand pressed to her cheek, and until she looks up and sees blue eyes instead of green, she's almost convinced it's Terezi or Kanaya, but no, that grin could only be one person-

"How?" She asks, hoping to get some control over - _something_ in the crazy mess this has all become.

John chuckles and shrugs sheepishly, holding up a bright red scarf that, she realizes after a second, has teal blood on it. "It's a long story, and basically has me getting some cool retcon-y powers and future Terezi sending me on a dumb series of pranks before saving your life. But yeah, you don't have to die now, so that's good! ...I think, anyways?"

Vriska blinks again, slowly, turning to look at her friend, who looks equally confused, not to mention irritated. "...okay?"

"Right!" He grins, making her feel just a bit faint again, setting her down gently before getting back up, fistpumping like the dork he was. "I think that's everything, and I don't think I really need to hang around, so I'll see you guys later!"

"You aren't going anywhere until you explain this mess!" Karkat snaps, right when Terezi cries, "Give me the scarf first, John!"

John just waves, still wearing that grin even as he, to her startlement, glows bright blue and, in a pale flash, vanishes into thin air. Karkat's mouth is already off, spewing the sort of swears he's only reserved for special occasions, while Terezi shakes her head and walks over to check on her.

Kanaya, still holding up a blind Sollux, asks, "Could someone please explain what just happened?"

"Yeah," Sollux grumbles, giving what would have been an annoyed look if he could still see to the room in general. "Some of us couldn't see shit around here, if you hadn't noticed."

Vriska and Terezi exchange a long look before turning back to the two. "We have no idea."

(It doesn't strike her for another day(?) that she had almost been killed by her own scourge sister, having been too distracted with the questions everyone had about John's appearance and his unwillingness to stay and explain what had happened. Thankfully, Vriska is alone when the thought strikes her, causing her to pause in the middle of the hall she was fluttering down, eyes blown wide.

Her breath shudders, and she's lucky there's no one there because she can't stop herself from shaking or for a few blue tears to escape her. She sinks to the floor, knees buckling as she tries her best to get rid of the evidence, because damnit all she should be used to the others hating her but somehow it hurts when she knows her closest friend (besides John, but she's not sure if he counts because he's human and just doesn't _get_ it sometimes) would have killed her in order to protect everyone else.

(Had John been telling the truth when he'd said he'd changed the Alpha timeline so she didn't have to die? And had he done it for her, or…)

Vriska closes her eyes and takes deep breaths, recollecting herself. She wasn't as eager to go off and face Jack now that she knew what would happen otherwise, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to prepare herself for what danger - and glory - was lurking ahead.

She was Vriska Serket, descendant of the greatest pirate to ever rule the Alternian seas, and she'd be damned if she was gonna let this second chance slip by while she could do something important in Paradox Space.)

(...Why did she have the feeling she was forgetting something important, though?)

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AN: This was supposed to be something else, but somehow it sorta ended up being a rehash of one of the scenes from the comic with a bit of Vriska's thoughts tacked on afterwords. Not the most creative, and I wanted to have this up on the thirteenth, but ah well, can't have everything. Enjoy?


	4. Sibling Love

Little Skaia Things (Homestuck)

Author: Ashynarr

Summary: So I promised myself a while back I would write some things for Homestuck, see as it's my other favorite fandom. This is a storage place for all my drabbles for the series and characters.

Disclaimer: Homestuck's not mine.

Warning: Learning how to write these characters, so excuse some OOCness.

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"You look like shit."

Rose refuses to sniffle, giving her brother a flat look instead. "Your observational skills continue to improve, I see."

Dave snorts incredulously. "Your face is redder than Karkat's right before he flips off the handle and goes on a merry-go-round of anatomically-impossible suggestions and you're sweating more than that creepy troll who got mixed up with bro's robot glasses to make an even creepier sprite."

"I'm fine," Rose replied, swallowing and regretting the action immediately at the spike of pain that caused. "I've suffered worse than this."

"I'll make sure to put that on your grave," Her brother grins in amusement. "Rose Lalonde, god tier Seer of Light extraordinaire and humanity's first ambassador to the hot alien trolls next planet over on a lifelong quest to go down where no man or woman has gone before, brought down by a case of weak-ass Earthling influenza."

"How flattering," She can't help but smile a little. "Although I should remind you that technically Jade was the first to speak to them from our chronological point of view."

"Maybe in the game," Dave concedes. "But last I remember you were the one to help initiate first contact here, or was that some other sister of mine?"

"If you have other sisters, I would have definitely liked to have known before now," Rose's eyes widen, showing off more red veins. "Did David go through with his secret lifelong desire to be a drag queen then? Or are there things you wish to tell me? I haven't had a chance to crack open my psychology books in quite a while."

"Ha ha ha," Dave replied flatly. "You know damn well it was Jade who changed us into those right before graduation, though she still hasn't told me where she even got the monstrosities she shoved us all into."

"You haven't guessed yet?" The Seer pressed a hand to her lips. "Roxy's gotten quite good with her abilities, and she thought it'd be an excellent way to celebrate mastering that particular skill. I must say, considering how it turned out, it was an excellent decision on their part."

"Betrayed by my own mother," Dave places a hand over his heart, though his face remains solemn. "What can I expect next from her wily ways? Matching hideous Christmas sweaters for us to wear while we pose in those family photos that our distant and nonexistent relatives always demand even though they never come for Christmas dinner? Real fake-ass Thanksgiving turkeys that always turn out to be made from tofu cause that one crazy vegan aunt is coming over for a surprise visit and the kids always break down in unison crying about the cruelties of the universe?"

Rose can't stop her giggle at the absurdity of the statement, which would have grown into full out laughter if it hadn't had the unfortunate side effect of triggering a nasty hacking fit, leaving her with an obscene amount of snotty saliva on her pajama-clad arm and a brief wash of misery at her current situation.

Dave simply snorts. "See? If you can't even handle my weaker shenanigans without hacking up vital organs, how can you expect me to let you wander around the house and possibly fall down some ironically placed stairs?"

"Unless you moved them since I last left my room, I doubt they are placed any more ironically than usual." Rose sighs. "But unfortunately, as you have made your point, I will concede the victory to you."

Dave grins again, looking ready to fistbump her shoulder before recalling she was miserably sick and that he wanted no part of that. "Don't worry about starving up here; our parent-siblings have joined unholy forces to craft you the finest meals God has ever witnessed on this poor Earth in order to hasten your recovery so that you don't miss out on family bonding night."

Rose's eyes narrow in suspicion. "You're letting them cook unsupervised?"

"Me? No way, I'm all up in this responsibility shit like a cat on the proverbial dumbass mouse who didn't stop to notice the huge-ass predator behind it on its quest for cheesy goodness."

"_Dave._"

The Knight turns and walks out the door. "I'll bring some medicine when they're done; and don't you worry, David's got them well at hand."

He doesn't look back once as he descends the stairs, knowing with a satisfied smirk that she's already paled in horror at what those three would create with their… skewed tastebuds. Hopefully it'll keep her from snarking at his own cooking habits for at least a week after this.

(And if he's the one to actually make the food she eats instead, helped along with a bit of timely shenanigans, she doesn't have to know.)

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

AN: I've never written Dave before, so I tried my best to capture his tone of voice, but idk if it worked or not. Was definitely fun to write, though! I need to work on more stuff with these two.


	5. Naked Monkey Wriggler

Little Skaia Things (Homestuck)

Author: Ashynarr

Summary: So I promised myself a while back I would write some things for Homestuck, see as it's my other favorite fandom. This is a storage place for all my drabbles for the series and characters.

Disclaimer: Homestuck's not mine.

Warning: Post-game drabble, JohnRoxy implied

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

It was watching him, hunger in its cold blue eyes. It had already decided he was prey, just waiting for the chance to strike, and there was no way to escape it now. He scooted away as it slowly made its way toward him, graspers reaching towards him as its drool dripped down its cheek to the floor below. And that low cry, that horrible low cry-

"Up, up!"

Yes, truly the horrible wriggler offspring of Egbert and Lalonde (the senior?) was a worthy foe.

Karkat heaved a sigh of relief when Roxy swept in, flashing him a smile as she collected up her errant offspring. "Hey there! What brings you by?"

"I'm here to see John," He replied, eying the little beast that was still trying to reach for him from her arms. Was that thing damaged or something? "Where is he?"

"Oh, he's out with Dave getting groceries, they should be back soon," She waved off, looking down to the wriggler with an amused smile. "I see Lilu's introduced herself already. Isn't she adorable?"

Karkat told her flatly, "It looks like a naked pink monkey."

Roxy laughed. "That's what humans are, Karkat! I thought John told you that a while ago."

"Yeah, I remember, it's just really weird. I still don't know why your species puts up with growing more members of your species inside you - everything I've heard about it makes it sound painful."

"It is for a while, but it's so worth it afterwards," She tickles under her daughter's chin, drawing a laugh from her. "Isn't that right?"

The troll sighed, once again marvelling at the human enigma that was a 'family unit'. Heck, the only trolls he knew that lived together were Feferi and Meenah, and that's because they had a huge-ass palace under the ocean that could fit a hundred trolls and custodians comfortably. Not to mention it was easier to co-rule when you could debate face to face instead of over Trollslum.

Roxy glanced back up to him, her smile quickly making him nervous. "Say, would you like to hold her for a bit? I bet she'd love some time with Uncle Karkat!"

"What the fuck's an uncl-" His breath whooshed out of him as the child was gently pushed into his chest, arms scrambling to hold her as Roxy pulled away.

"No swearing," She told him pointedly, staring him down until he meekly nodded, knowing that she was fairly important considering she'd actually created the new matriorb that had saved their entire species.

"Unca Kar!" The wriggler clung tightly to him, all her stubby teeth bared as she stared up at him.

"I'm not even human, how can I be an uncle?" He complained. "Isn't that a human only thing?"

"It just means someone who's close to the family," Roxy informed, hiding her smile behind her hand now. Yeah, yeah, it was absolutely hilarious, especially since the wriggler was now attempting to climb up higher to either aim for his hair or, more horrifically, his horns. "And you and John are pretty close, aren't you?"

"I guess," He eventually conceded, eventually succeeding in removing the attachment to his clothing despite the petulant cry that emerged from its mouth. "Please take it back."

Roxy hummed and stepped forward, reclaiming the wriggler and calming it down when it started to fuss more. "C'mon you, let's make some lunch so that everyone can eat when dad and Uncle Dave get back. You going to help?"

Karkat realized the last was directed to him. "I-"

"You can either help make food or keep watching her, your choice."

"I'll help, I'll help, sheesh!"

The troll grumbled under his breath as he followed her, wondering why he'd even bothered agreeing to help Terezi by passing along the stupid message in person. Clearly just sending it over the internet would have been better.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

AN: ...okay, I admit to a weakness for JohnRoxy, it's just been cute in the comic so far, and you know both of those nerds would watch and love Fifth Element. And poor poor Karkat, he is not suited for parenthood but gets drafted anyways because of the human disease known as friendship.


	6. Of Grubs and Humans

Little Skaia Things (Homestuck)

Author: Ashynarr

Summary: So I promised myself a while back I would write some things for Homestuck, see as it's my other favorite fandom. This is a storage place for all my drabbles for the series and characters.

Disclaimer: Homestuck's not mine.

Warning: Post-game stuffs, potential plot bunny

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

"This is a grub?"

Eight humans were gathered around Kanaya and Porrim, who had, after much debate and negotiation, given in and shown them to the hatchery. It was where the newborn grubs were checked over for potentially fatal mutations or injuries and recorded in the extensive databases based on their hues and horns, so naturally they'd been worried that the mere presence of non-jade adults would rile the little ones up.

A blueblooded grub, having come over to investigate upon the entry of the two jadebloods along with strangers, looked up to the speaker, who peered back down with equal curiosity.

As it was, the grubs didn't seem hostile to their presence yet, and the humans weren't freaking out either, so Kanaya was considering it a tentative win on her part-

"It's. so. CUTE!" Roxy, who had been the one to speak before, all but squealed as she picked up the confused grub, spinning it around before holding it close to her face. "Ohmygosh, lookit it's wiggly little butt!"

Both jadebloods stared blankly, wondering what she could find cute about a grub, only to be again jarred as the other girls seemed to agree, getting close and investigating it more thoroughly.

"I thought they would be more like termite larva," Rose admitted to her dancestor, claiming the grub for herself as it squeaked and squirmed a bit. "But I have to admit, they're rather adorable up close."

The two turned to the boys, hoping to find more sense, only to realize John and Jake were each hosting two grubs each on their laps, taunting them with their fingers and laughing cheerfully.

"I think this one looks like a Walter, don't you?" John asked, gesturing to the brownblood grub on his right knee.

"Oh yes, most definitely," Jake agreed, picking up the cerulean attempting to climb his shirt. "And this one can be Neytiri!"

"Isn't that seven letters, though?" The heir asked, frowning in thought. "Maybe just Netiri?"

"I suppose," The page sighed, setting the grub back down and lightly tapping it on the nose, causing it to squeak in protest.

Dave and Dirk, the last two they held out hope for even being remotely normal about all this, turned out to have have a grub on each of their heads, completely unconcerned for the safety of anyone involved. When the rustblood on Dave started to slip, however, the knight reached up and settled it back into place before continuing his conversation with his dancestor like nothing was wrong.

Kanaya looked to Porrim, who was as lost as she was.

"Is this… normal for them?" Porrim asked after a moment.

"I know they care for their own young, but…" Kanaya bit her lip, eventually turning back to her matesprit, who would undoubtedly be able to explain this strange phenomenon.

However, it was Jane who replied to the question, eyes alight once she realized what was being asked. "Oh, humans love all babies, regardless of species. Well, most anyways. We've looked after animals of hundreds of different species, and pets are as common as children in a lot of countries."

"You look after young that isn't your own?" Kanaya wondered, baffled and amazed at such an unnecessary adaptation. "How do you have time for them?"

"Most people with pets consider them part of the family unit," Rose replied, glancing up from the grub she'd been teasing with a strand of ribbon. "I know as a kid I saw Jasper as irreplaceable, and the kittens around the house now are all as important to Roxy and I as any children we might ever have."

"Bec is my best friend," Jade continued, grinning widely. "He's as important to me as John and Rose and Dave, and even if he doesn't have to take care of me anymore, I still try to include him in family time."

"So, like, it's not really a waste of time? Especially since they're hella good at helping lower blood pressure and giving love and companionship and stuff. It's science!"

"Indeed," Rose agreed, smiling. "Pets are medically shown to help bolster the physical and mental health of their owners, unless of course allergies are involved; we even train therapy dogs to help comfort people who need it. Sort of like a mini-moirail to help ease the worst of your frustrations."

"So you think the grubs are like pets?" Porrim asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"No, no!" Jane waved her hands. "We know they're young trolls, and we know they'll grow up into thinking beings and such, so if we looked after such we'd raise them… well, I suppose the way we raise human children?"

The maid looked a bit confused, glancing to her friends in askance.

"Well, we'd probably try to find out how trolls are cared for in order to be healthy adults," Rose offered after a beat. "But no doubt human morals and thinking would worm their way in there regardless."

"I mean, it's not like we'd actually be looking after them, right?" Roxy laughed, petting the blueblooded grub who had curled up in her lap and started to purr softly. "That's what your lususes and stuff are for."

The jadebloods looked to each other again, uncertain how to bring up the fact that there simply were never enough lusii for all the grubs that came out of the caverns - hence why so many died young. It was a way of keeping the population in check, even on Beforus, and neither had felt that it was a huge deal.

On the other hand, the grubs apparently had no fear or dislike of the aliens playing with them, which raised many a question about what the grubs disliked about non-jade trolls…

And whether this would at all be useful towards Feferi and Meenah's plans to bring humans and trolls closer together.

This… would require reporting, along with some serious deliberation.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

AN: So yes, I've seen a few fics with this idea around AO3, although most of those were like humor or special circumstances. So part of me wondered – in a post-game universe, would it be possible (or necessary) for humans to look after trolls? Sure, trolls are shit at looking after kids, but humans just seem to have this natural capability to look after young regardless of species.

Needless to say, the trolls are baffled and concerned and interested all in one.


	7. Empress and Her Council

Little Skaia Things (Homestuck)

Author: Ashynarr

Summary: So I promised myself a while back I would write some things for Homestuck, see as it's my other favorite fandom. This is a storage place for all my drabbles for the series and characters.

Disclaimer: Homestuck's not mine.

Warning: Non-SBURB AU

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

"Everyone clam down and shell up!"

The other eleven trolls in the room went quiet quickly, grumbling under their breaths as they retook their seats. Annoying the empress was a sure way to get into trouble, and none of them were so certain of their invulnerability that they would take the risk of prodding her temper further.

"Now," She continued once they'd all settled into place. "I know not all of us get along, but in order to make progress, I need each and every one of you to work with me, and that means working with each other even if you might not agree all the time. Do you think you all can do that?"

From around the table came murmured agreements.

"Whale?"

"Yes, empress," They replied much more clearly, several shooting looks at each other but otherwise keeping themselves composed.

"Good!" She replied cheerfully, turning her focus to one troll in particular. "Now, Karkrab, I know you're freaked out about anyone knowing your blood color-"

"Because it's no one's business!" He protested immediately.

"-But honestly, we've all known about you being off-spectrum for sweeps now."

"What?" He yelled, standing up fast before Terezi reached up, grabbed his collar, and pulled him back into his seat despite his squirming protests.

"Yeah, Vriska's ancestor left a journal with Equius' about her thoughts on yours, and it included lots of notes on what she'd learned of his cult and the symbol he left you! I thought she was supposed to give it to you after Sollux finished scanning it for all of us?"

"Well, he wouldn't exactly tell me where he lived, and you've all made it clear what'll happen next time I try to use my powers on any of you," The cerulean troll rolled her eyes, pulling out a book and handing it over to Kanaya, who dutifully passed it to Karkat, who looked like he didn't know whether to burn it then and there or hide it for later.

"Right, now that that's done, how're we going to deal with the fact that almost all of your citizens are still thousands of light years away?" Sollux asked, adjusting his glasses as he looked around the room. "Messages take time to get out there, and not all of them will reply right away because they're finishing missions the Condesce sent them on. And we can't exactly wait for new recruits raised by your rule to fix things quickly, since most of the fleet commanders are old enough to have met our ancestors personally."

"A lot of them are going to be upset with some of your more radical changes," Terezi added. "Not that I think looking after trolls who need the help is a bad thing overall, but there are those like me or Tavros who can mostly look after ourselves, and it could lead to an abusive system if we don't have ways for cullees to report their cullers for fraud or misinformation."

"You will also have to decide what to do about the meat engine system your predecessor put into place," Equius noted, frowning thoughtfully to the notes he'd already made. "Though an amazing feat of transportation, the system itself is… inelegant, and prone to flaws that could endanger the lowbloods powering it and thus strand trolls light years from help."

All of them grimaced at the memory of the poor goldblood who had been found powering the Condesce's ship, barely clinging to life after whatever magic had been keeping him on this side of the dream bubbles had failed him. Feferi had put him out of his misery quickly, while Sollux had looked up his service information and realized he'd been old enough to have known the Signless personally.

(The fact that he could very well have been Sollux's own ancestor, based on his horns, mutations, and symbol, was enough to make most of them more than glad the empress had ended her predecessor before she could think to claim their goldblooded friend as a replacement engine.)

"I know this'll be a lot of work," Feferi sighed, shaking her head on how much she already had to do just to get her friend's safety and comfort assured. How was it so hard to get drones to understand that attacking her friends just because they were cripples or mutants was not allowed under any circumstances? "But that's why I called for all of you instead of trying to do it all myself! I know I have a lot to learn, and that one day I'll have to be able to handle this on my own, but I want to start my rule right, and the only way I can do that is if I have people who can tell me how this will affect their castes in the short and long terms."

"None of us would have come if we didn't trust you to try and fix things," Nepeta spoke up. "We know you'll be an awesome empurress, so there's no harm in helping for as long as we can!"

Though she would live to see thousands of council members and tens of thousands of meetings sit at the table over her many sweeps of rule, none would ever come close to giving her the warm feeling she got in her bloodpusher at seeing all eleven of her closest friends ready to help her make a new and better Alternia.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

AN: Probably not 100% in character for all of them, but this was just a basic hash of an idea I've seen around and wanted to try myself. I can't even begin to imagine how to write a long enough fic that could go into everything, but who knows, I might one day go insane enough to give it a shot or something.


	8. On Further Observation

Little Skaia Things (Homestuck)

Author: Ashynarr

Summary: So I promised myself a while back I would write some things for Homestuck, see as it's my other favorite fandom. This is a storage place for all my drabbles for the series and characters.

Disclaimer: Homestuck's not mine.

Warning: Everyone's alive on the meteor, and all four kids are there too

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

Humans are, Nepeta thinks, deceptively soft-looking. They have no horns or exoskeletons to protect themselves, no claws to strike down enemies, and no psionics to give them an edge. But still, they managed to complete their session faster than the twelve of them had, while dealing with the same enemy that had ravaged the troll's session.

Her tail wags behind her, her hiding spot in the vents undetected as she spies on the four playing one of their many human games. Whatever it is involves a lot of colorful paper and a lot of yelling, though there is more laughter than anything, and not the cruel or mocking kinds she's heard too often from the other trolls. Even when one clearly breaks the rules of the game, the others are not truly angry - there's no tension, no bared teeth or rigid postures, only the playful shoving of purrbeast cubs.

For beings that look so much like trolls, they are so very, very alien, she thinks!

Jade cheers as John makes his next move, accepting paper from him in exchange for a hug. He grumbled, but he was still smiling even as Rose takes her turn on the game. And that's a parallel between the 'siblings' she's noticed - John and Jade tend to initiate contact more often, but Rose and Dave seem to linger longer.

They do it less with trolls, however - not because they don't want to, but because the first time John did it to Karkat, he'd all but frozen up in panic, totally misunderstanding what was obviously platonic to the four humans. They'd held back after that, very careful to make sure that they did not touch unless invited to, something she didn't think the others had realized quite yet.

They more than made up for it around each other, especially Jade, who as she understands it lived for years with only a lusus for company. Apparently, this is extremely abnormal for humans, and not in a good way, but the barkbeast-eared girl seems alright to her, so maybe it hadn't lasted for too long? Or maybe she just is not as good as reading humans and their emotions as she is with trolls.

Unlike Karkat and Kanaya, Nepeta has also come to understand that humans do not understand the quadrants, and do not feel them the same way trolls do. What trolls see as obscenely pale does not even register to humans, and all other relationships just seem to, in a pun, pale compared to that overarching bond between them.

(She does not want to imagine how the others will react should they ever learn the four humans sleep piled together, like some sort of papping orgy that'd gone on too long and left everyone exhausted. Vriska would make things awkward, and Karkat would probably faint again.)

Rose is red for Kanaya, that much is obvious, and Kanaya is red for Rose, but Rose doesn't seem to realize how much she confuses Kanaya whenever she sits down with her and starts to discuss feelings. Feelings are, after all, a moirail thing, not a matesprit thing, but apparently human romance is as much pink as it is red.

She guesses this by seeing how Dave and Jade interact, how they blush and laugh and perhaps spend time doing things they don't do with John or Rose. She's disappointed it took her weeks to recognize red flirting, but once she does she cannot help but watch them more closely, for shipping purrposes, of course!

John and Rose, at least, seem to realize their other two friends are red for each other, able to recognize when Dave and Jade want time alone together even faster than she can. They also, interestingly, can tell when someone does not want to be alone, or needs to be separated from whichever trolls have taken to bothering them.

She privately giggles whenever Jade wraps arms around John while Vriska is talking to him, eyes big and innocent like baby snufflebeasts while apologizing, saying she needed her 'sibling' desperately for something. Luck, it seems, does not factor in human sneakiness, probably because she doesn't realize the game they're playing with her.

Humans, for how soft and harmless they look, are predators in disguise.

And maybe it is seeing some of her lusus in them, capable of playfulness and protectiveness and the importance of the pride, that finally has her approaching them as an equal instead of as aliens. Because her room on the meteor is so very cold and lonely, and she misses having someone to sleep next to, and she thinks that maybe they will be the ones who understand.

(On a side note, humans are very, very warm. She cannot find herself regretting her decision for a single moment.)

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

AN: Yeah, the thing I was originally gonna do had me like 'wat', so after several false starts on other things this is what basically allowed itself to be written. Can't claim it's good or not, but it's not terrible, which is my criteria at this point tbh.


	9. A Beginning And An End

Little Skaia Things (Homestuck)

Author: Ashynarr

Summary: So I promised myself a while back I would write some things for Homestuck, see as it's my other favorite fandom. This is a storage place for all my drabbles for the series and characters.

Disclaimer: Homestuck's not mine.

Warning: Short Drabbles, Act 7 spoilers in the author's notes

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

You were born to rule; you've known this since you were old enough to understand your mother's whispered prophecies. You have no reason to doubt her, after all - your blood is proof enough of the matter.

No one but you and her lived this deep in the darkness, where the blistering sun dared not venture. You hardly missed the company you'd never had, more focused on becoming strong and clever enough to claim your birthright. You grew up hunting to feed yourself and your mother, dragging corpses from miles away to offer it as proof and reward to your loving caretaker.

Sometimes you dreamed of other places, filled with light and colors and mayhem that you did not fully understand at first. Like all other things that confused you, you pushed onward, curiosity and arrogance demanding knowledge of this doomed realm.

(Ironically, it was there you discovered what would have been your name had there been any other than your mother to give it to you. It rolled nicely enough off the tongue, but did not hold the taste of power you would have liked.

No matter; that was what titles were for, and you knew you would get a damn awesome one by the time you established yourself as empress. You could hardly wait!)

The dreams tapered off as you got older, until eventually only your mother's songs filled them. But that was alright - you'd gotten everything you needed to know from them, and you knew you were more than ready to claim the world that had been waiting for you since before you were even born.

(And the worlds that hadn't been.)

Grubsteps, you were told, because you had all the time in the universe. You could afford to be patient, bide your time, build up your resources until no one could think of stopping you.

Not that you were interested in waiting, of course - what was the point if it wasn't a challenge? You grinned as you stepped out of your ocean home onto pink sand, twin moons shining down like beacons of fortune on your future conquests. Who cared if you were starting a bit early - you were pretty sure eight sweeps (by surface dweller measurement) was more than old enough to start making waves.

You are Meenah Piexes, future ruler of Alternia and beyond, and you were going to take your destiny by the horns and break it under your carapaced heel whether it liked it or not.

~0~0~0~0~

"Happy birthday!"

John and Jane both grinned, kicking back in their seats while their friends gathered around. Four years after they'd ended the game, and they'd made it something of a tradition to get together once a year in order to celebrate the anniversary of their new lives in their universe. All of them were usually busy with their own things, whether rebuilding their respective species or exploring the rest of the galaxy or even arguing over the law of the joint societies, but this one day was dedicated to reaffirming their bonds and reminding themselves of how far they'd come from when they'd all started out on their adventures.

As Jane's dad set the large cake down between the birthday kids, the two looked to each other, having already agreed just how this particular party would go.

"Three…" John started, hands glowing blue ever so softly.

"Two…" Jane replied, hands also glowing now.

"Surprise!" They shouted, Jane creating more than enough cakes to spatter everyone while John blew them into everyone's face at the same time. They both fell out of their seats as everyone yelped or tried to dodge, excepting Jane's dad who calmly picked a larger chunk off of his face and stuck it in his mouth.

"Hmm, vanilla. I approve."

He then pulled out two pies, bringing them slamming into his kids' heads while they were still out of breath from laughing so hard. They stopped in shock for a moment at his actions, looking up at his smug trickster's grin, only to reply with two matching grins of their own.

"CAKE WAR!"

With the help of Roxy and Jade, there was soon cake flying everywhere, and casualties abounded as the poor carapacians who'd come over to see what was happening fled from the confectionary assault.

Overall, the party was a resounding success, even getting Empresses Meenah and Feferi to relax and enjoy their break from their ongoing duties to their species. John and Jane agreed there was no better twentieth birthday they could have dreamed of.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

AN: For the first one, it could kick off an awesome empire building quest type of thing should I ever be motivated to try such a thing again. ...shut up, I totally don't have a thing for the Condesce, shut your mouths all of you.

As for the second... I really liked the ending. Homestuck can now be called my favorite anime completely unironically. Holy fraaaaaaaaag that art, and now I wanna write all the things about what wasn't wrapped up. Can't wait for that epilogue! Thank you Andrew Hussie for your brilliant story, and good luck in your future projects. And, of course, happy birthday John, you've finally made it home. :)


	10. Family

Little Skaia Things (Homestuck)

Author: Ashynarr

Summary: So I promised myself a while back I would write some things for Homestuck, see as it's my other favorite fandom. This is a storage place for all my drabbles for the series and characters.

Disclaimer: Homestuck's not mine.

Warning: Multiple drabbles

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

Jade looked up to her opponents, who were all waiting in eager anticipation for her next move. Leaning forward slowly, she rested her hand on top of the deck of cards, sliding the top one off carefully before turning it around so she could read it with a critical eye.

"Come to Dubai, where you can relax in our world-famous spas, experience the nightlife, or simply enjoy blank by the poolside."

In an instant John and Dave had slammed down cards in front of her, while Rose thoughtfully tapped her own hand before picking one and setting it down as well. Noticeably, her stack of black cards was almost twice as high as the rest of theirs, something the boys called cheats on but which she countered with psychology.

Or, in her words, "I've known you idiots my entire life, of course I know how to pander to you."

Jade picked them all up, shuffling them a few times even though she was fairly certain she could still guess whose was whose, and turned them around to read them out loud as well.

"Come to Dubai, where you can relax in our world-famous spas, experience the nightlife, or simply enjoy black people by the poolside." Snerk from the boys, grin from Rose.

"Come to Dubai, where you can relax in our world-famous spas, experience the nightlife, or simply enjoy turning the rivers red with the blood- sorry, boold of infidels by the poolside." A raised eyebrow from Rose and a oh of surprise from John.

"Come to Dubai, where you can relax in our world-famous spas, experience the nightlife, or simply enjoy… dead parents by the poolside. Rose!"

The seer hid a smile behind her hand while both boys shouted 'oh snop!' in unison. "You can't prove it was me."

"I know Dave was boold of infidels because he'd find the typo hilarious, and John is black people because he hasn't refreshed his hand in a while."

Rose sighed, smiling in good humor at being caught out. "You have to admit I would have had the point if your memory weren't so good."

"I guess, but since I caught you, and since Dave's is pretty funny too, I'm giving the point to him."

"Hell yeah," The knight cheered, taking his black card and dumping it onto his small pile. "Seriously though, why haven't we invited the others to join us in this? 'Cause Roxy at least would be able to counter Rose's bullshit fortune powers."

"Because three of them wouldn't get half of the jokes, Jane is busy Saturday evenings with her shows, and the trolls don't get any of the jokes we try to make," Jade offered, waiting for John to pick out the next black card.

"That doesn't explain how you get most of them, since you lived on an island too," John pointed out, reaching for the deck while still looking to her for a reply.

"Well, isn't it obvious? I'm friends with you three - I learned most of this stuff in self-defense."

The other three laughed while Jade grinned wildly. If nothing else, the games they played together every weekend truly showed how much they'd come together as friends over their wild lives. If even Mario Party couldn't tear them apart, nothing would, except perhaps whose turn it was to deal with laundry.

~0~0~0~0~

It's a wriggler, somehow outside the caverns despite being just too young to have made it out of the trials, and without any sign of a lusus. Not to mention it's a hideous bright red that the rainbow drinker part of her both wonders and reels at. After all, it could be the most delicious meal she'd ever had, or the last, depending.

The empress has ordered all mutants culled to avoid spoiling the gene pool. Porrim had only just been allowed to exit the caverns to get the supplies the other jadebloods could not make or remake on their own, the predawn sun already preparing to rise over the distant horizon. There was no reason for her to do anything; it would roast on its own in the heat, and perhaps feed a passing lusus with its own, normal charge.

The mutant grub screeched again, wriggling around on the remains of its meteor before falling off and onto its back. It's tiny legs flailed in the air, a hilariously vulnerable display that another grub would have taken advantage of for an easy pretrial meal.

She sighed, sliding down into the crater the thing was crying in, if only to get it to shut up before to drew the attention of the creatures that prowled at this time of night for any prey foolish enough to not be burrowed in sane fear of the sun. It screeched more as she tucked it under an arm, squirming as she quickly clambered back up and stood there, looking out to the distant entrance to the brooding caverns, and then the other way to the nearby settlement she was supposed to be heading towards.

Well, she supposed her cloak could hide the thing enough to protect it from the dawn, and then when she reached the small cospe of trees just before the outer limits of town. Maybe there'd be a lusus or something there that would take the thing, either for a meal or a ward, and then she wouldn't have to worry about it anymore and it wouldn't draw predators to her main route home.

Nodding decisively, she readjusted the squirming screaming bundle of grub under her cloak and made her way onward, hoping the delay from her minor detour wouldn't be noticed by the others; she hated lusus cleaning duty and had no desire to take the task usually left to the younger jades and the punished.

~0~0~

Oh moons it wouldn't shut up. Why wouldn't it shut up? Porrim could feel the headache pounding steadily as she made her way onwards, the morning sun going unappreciated because of the little mutant runt she was ten seconds from leaving to the undead regardless of whether it would put them on her own scent or not. She groaned and pulled out one of the grubloaf bars meant to last her the journey, after a moment deciding she wasn't that hungry and shoved the other half in the runt's mouth.

And then there was blessed silence, the mutant seizing the package with its front claws while it bit into the bland food with an eagerness that was almost admirable. Well, that was one mystery solved nicely, and her headache was fading now, so she made her way onwards, already spying the fuzzy edges to the horizon that marked the closest edge of the cospe.

By the time she finally reached it, it was well into the day, and the grub had fallen asleep, meaning it wouldn't start complaining or wriggling when she tucked it into a cove created by the roots of a few trees. There, let it survive or die on its own - her work here was done. Humming cheerfully, convinced she'd never see the mutant again, she made her way on to the town, going over the list of supplies in her mind and forgetting about the grub almost entirely.

(Meanwhile, in a tree above the suddenly awake, alone, and hungry grub, a rustblood wearing a spectacular green dress took the brief break in her work to laugh at what that poor, unsuspecting jadeblood was destined for. Interesting times, indeed!)

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

AN: Another multipost in order to conserve space and stuff, whoops. First one is, obviously, CAH being plays by the beta kids, which tbh would be hilarious to watch probably. I picked one round from a video at random I was watching at the time, then picked the cards that fit people, and then this was a thing.

Second one is a prompt from the KM basically asking 'uh, trolls don't DO the warm fuzzy parental feelings to babies. So who in the world did Dolorosa manage without that instinct?' I blame time shenanigans, Damara having a good laugh, and a constantly exhausted Porrim who somehow manages to raise a mutant grub to become a rebel leader despite biology working against her.


	11. Terezi's New Lusus

Little Skaia Things (Homestuck)

Author: Ashynarr

Summary: So I promised myself a while back I would write some things for Homestuck, see as it's my other favorite fandom. This is a storage place for all my drabbles for the series and characters.

Disclaimer: Homestuck's not mine.

Warning: Probably not canon?

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

Though none of her friends knew it, Terezi had had a lusus before she'd met her dragonmom. After all, there was no way an egg could carry a grub hundreds of miles from the brooding caverns, nor a way for a young grub to make her way all the way out to the coastal woods without being eaten or roasting in the sun.

She didn't really remember much about her first lusus, a not so small lizard who'd had a fondness for treetops and basking in the blistering sun while her charge slept. As such, their schedules tended to be separate, her lusus slipping into slumber as the night wore on, not stirring again until Terezi had crawled into her recuperacoon for the morning.

Overall, it wasn't terrible - they had plenty of time together first thing in the evening, while her lusus was still warmed from hunting and basking. The house had been built by a previous charge, cleared of most of their personal effects before they'd left for service, though there was enough left over for a curious young wriggler to get her hands on.

Then Terezi woke up to no lizard mom in sight.

Nights turned into weeks, and even her desperate searching could not find a trace of her lusus. There was no doubts that the old lizard had been eaten by something, and for the first time in her life she sobbed uncontrollably, lost and confused and alone. She didn't even see the huge statue until she'd wandered into it, falling backwards onto her butt as she tried and failed to keep her balance after the impact.

With a teary sniff she looked up, and up, and was momentarily distracted by the huge skull resting on one of the platforms. Whatever lusus it had come from must have been HUGE if that had come from it!

On the other platform was a large round object - like a chirpbeast's eggs, only much larger. With another, less teary sniff she pushed herself back up, trying to find handholds so she could climb up and see if it was real or not.

_Hello?_

Terezi tilted her head and frowned, wondering why she'd thought that.

_Is someone out there?_

She looked back up to the egg. "Are you the egg?"

_Hehehehehe, I'm not an egg, silly._

A smile twitched on her lips at the humor leaking from the other mind. "Then what are you?"

_I'm a dragon… or I will be one day. It's so cold outside my shell, I don't know if I'll be able to hatch for a while._

"I could get you something to warm you…" The young troll offered, thinking of the piles of blankets her old lusus had had to burrow in during the colder nights.

_No, no, those won't do at all,_ the dragon decided, having seen - or not? - what she was considering. _It has to be really warm; a biiiiiiiiiiiig warm fire would be just right._

"I don't know if I can get you that…" Terezi frowned, not sure if she could get enough wood to manage what a big egg would consider 'big enough'.

_That's okay, it's still cosy in here,_ the dragon comforted. _And we can still talk, too! I haven't had anyone to talk to in a loooooooooooong time._

Terezi felt she understood how lonely that could get. "I just lost my lusus, so I don't have anyone to talk to anymore either."

_Oh, that's horrible. Maybe I could be your lusus then?_

Terezi blinked. "But aren't you still in the egg?"

_Weeeeeeeell, I can't do much of the stuff other lusus can, but I can still be there for you in spirit! And when I hatch, I'll really be the bestest lusus you've ever seen!_

"Weeeeeeeeell, I guess I can be okay with that," Terezi giggled, feeling better than she had in over a week, and thinking maybe things would be alright after all.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

AN: Because seriously, how the hell did Terezi get all the way out to those woods and build a house without a lusus available to help her? I can't think of a good reason, but I guess this might suffice for those of you who are curious like I am.


	12. Friendship Things

Little Skaia Things (Homestuck)

Author: Ashynarr

Summary: So I promised myself a while back I would write some things for Homestuck, see as it's my other favorite fandom. This is a storage place for all my drabbles for the series and characters.

Disclaimer: Homestuck's not mine.

Warning: Some AU, Some post-game, nothing fancy

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

Even if anyone had cared to notice them, all they would see is two normal teenagers on a date, hand in hand as they wandered the streets. Maybe, if one were particularly adept, one might have been able to tell that there was something a bit… other about them, something not quite right in the way they looked around at the building and people, their voices just low enough to be blurred out by the wind and the crowds around them.

Of course, no one paid any particular mind to the two, just as Roxy wanted right now. She was still getting used to having so many people crowding the streets, nails close to drawing blood from John's despite his reassurances that nothing would happen, and she wasn't sure what she'd do if all these normal, happy people were to actually see her.

It had started as an idle thought, during her time on her own on John's planet in that between place, and had coalesced into a full idea before that shining blue glow marked her new friend's return from his journey.

"Before we go to the new timeline, could we maybe, y'know, go somewhere first?"

John had tilted his head, not judging, thank goodness, and had asked, "Where?"

"...Earth, maybe?"

"But isn't it destroyed? Is there something there you need?"

"No no, not ours, it's not…" Roxy bit her lip. "I want to see what Earth should've been like, without the Batterwitch there to ruin everything!"

He blinked, the mention clicking not long after. "You mean the one I'm from?"

"Yeah…" She ducked her head, feeling stupid for even asking for something like that when obviously they had to get back to their friends. "Sorry, I know we've got other stuff to do first-"

"Alright."

She paused, looking back to see her friend rubbing the back of his head while looking up at the empty sky. A firefly floated past, landing on her shoulder before he looked back to her, for a slight moment looking so sad she wanted to take it back before it was hidden behind a grin. "I mean, it's not like I can't get us back to whatever time we want, and… we might not have time afterwards."

He'd offered a hand, which she barely hesitated in grabbing before the same cool-freeing feeling that had brought LOWAS into the void enveloped her.

When they came out, they were above what looked like the pictures of 'normal' houses from the turn of the century. There was a soft breeze blowing, the sun was warm on her skin, and everything was so marvelously green and colorful and alive that she forgot how to do anything but stare.

Was this what Janey had grown up with? How had she not seen how wonderful and perfect this place was until after they'd already left it all behind?

John's hand tightened on hers, and she looked to him, only to see his own gaze focused elsewhere. As she followed it, she saw through the window of the nearest house, where a man who looked awfully familiar was busy mixing something in a bowl - cake batter, she reminded herself, having seen Jane do similar in times she needed to relax or cheer someone up.

Wait, was that her dad? No wait, that wasn't right, this was supposed to be-

And into the kitchen ran the most adorable and familiar little boy, who had made a face upon seeing what his dad was making. It didn't take much to realize that John had brought them to the right universe, after all - right on top of his old house. Put that together with how Jane had felt after her father had disappeared, and you had one Rogue who knew she had to work fast to keep her friend from having too much time to think.

"Hey, can we go to a city? Whatsat one near Janey, Saddle? Seaturtle?"

John turned to look at her, after a second recognizing the question and grinning. "I think you mean Seattle, and sure; I've been there a few time, it's pretty fun!"

With that the two popped out of existence, leaving the son and father below to go through a too familiar set of motions in their last moments of naivety before the Game began.

~0~0~

"Hold still already!"

"I'm trying," Jade complained, white ears twitching back again at another tugged snarl thanks to the brush. "Maybe you could try not pulling so hard?"

"I'm already being gentle," Karkat complained, though he did seem to put less force into it with the following brush stroke. "It's not my fault your hair's a mess."

"Well, I didn't exactly have much reason to do more than keep it clean," She grumbled, hand wrapped around Dave's as he offered an amused huff. "The consorts didn't care, and Nannasprite never offered to help."

The fact that Karkat had taken one look at her hair once they'd all had a chance to rest and take in the fact that they were finally free of SBURB and immediately declared himself in charge of fixing the 'absolute horrorterror she'd made of it' was both touching and a bit insulting, though the latter was tempered by Dave's sheer amusement at the whole scenario.

"Why do you care so much, anyways? I mean, I bet Kanaya could help me cut it short and style it, and then it wouldn't be in the way so much while I'm working on the gardens and stuff."

Karkat pulled the brush through another time before finally replying. "On Alternia, long hair was a challenge. It was easily grabbable, and could leave you open to a fast culling if you weren't constantly wary. If you had it, you were either saying you didn't care or that you dared someone to make the attempt. Highbloods made an entire fashion statement out of having long, fancy styled hair, and even if I thought the whole thing was dumb, it still says a lot to any troll you talk to from either session."

Dave and Jade exchanged looks, once again reminded of just how awful both troll planets had been in their own ways.

"Well, I'm not really so worried about seeming dangerous," She replied instead, gritting her teeth briefly at another sharp tug through a stubborn snarl before she continued. "I mean, we're all friends here, right?"

"Yeah yeah, we're all human friends," The troll replied with an audible roll of his eyes. "Empress forbid I help give you an edge when dealing with future generations of trolls who'll be too stuffed up their waste chutes to give you the respect you deserve."

"Wait, is that why you and Kanaya've been all up and hinting for the rest of us humans to grow our hair out?" Dave asked suddenly, brow raising from behind his glasses.

"Of course, why else?"

"I just thought you guys had some sort of weird hair fetish and wanted to exploit us poor ignorant aliens like some illegal immigrants trying to make a few bucks to buy our families a new cow."

This time, Jade and Karkat both paused to give him a very confused look.

"...I'll explain later."

~0~0~

"It is way too fucking hot in here," Dave complained, flopped back against the large bed his sister was lying on. "I already had enough of that shit on LOHAC, I don't need it here too."

"Says the person who grew up in a warmer clime," Rose shot back, pearls of sweat dripping despite being down to nothing but a tanktop and shorts. "At least you have the excuse of being used to it."

"Three years is a long ass time to forget how hot things can get, alright? You grew up with snow, but look at how long it took you to get over the cold last winter!"

The seer grumbled over her breath, allowing her face to drop down onto the bedsheets.

"Man, I could seriously kill for an air conditioner or even a working fan right now."

"Then go alchemize one."

"Yeah, lemme just get up and go upstairs, which is even hotter may I remind you, and dick around for half an hour of my time before I remember the codes for them and have them spit one out. Have any other bright ideas?"

She said nothing, and he almost looked up to see if she'd passed out from heat exhaustion, only to feel a hand suddenly clamp on his shoulders. "John has wind powers."

It only took five seconds for the idea to coalesce in his mind as well. "That fucker's been hogging all the cool air, hasn't he?"

"He's with Jade; call her, have her bribe him to get his behind over here and do us all a community service."

"I don't know if that counts as one."

"It is when I'll go out and blast a path to him otherwise."

"Duly noted."

At the least, John took the request in good humor, sending the Breeze on a self-feeding loop that promptly brought down the temperature of the entire house by at least ten degrees. The smooches he got from both of them, not so much, but he would just have to live with it for as long as this heat wave lasted.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

AN: Three drabbles here, because they're all pretty short and I figure I might as well just toss them together. Nothing super fancy or exciting, just some friendship stuff and some ideas for potential extended fic things should I have the motive.

Also hey, I got through April with a drabble (or indulgent thing) everyday! Not bad for a self-imposed challenge in a fandom I haven't written much for until now.


End file.
